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bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
5.0
I consume literature like some people consume junk food. So many books, so little time. However, I took about six months reading these eight stories by Robert Aickman. These deeply melancholy tales deserve to be read slowly, carefully. The prose is impeccable. Each strange story is told with a clarity and simplicity that made me feel as if I wasn't reading fiction as much as witnessing an unsettling, but very real sequence of events.
The first two stories in particular, The Swords and The Real Road to the Church, have an emotional impact that is hard to shrug off. The Same Dog conjures up those weird childhood memories (ok, some weirder than others) that you're never really sure about. The Clock Watcher is twisted enough to make you quesy, while Pages from a Young Girl's Journal is just delightfully creepy.
Recommended to those of you who prefer your horror stories understated and inconclusive.
The first two stories in particular, The Swords and The Real Road to the Church, have an emotional impact that is hard to shrug off. The Same Dog conjures up those weird childhood memories (ok, some weirder than others) that you're never really sure about. The Clock Watcher is twisted enough to make you quesy, while Pages from a Young Girl's Journal is just delightfully creepy.
Recommended to those of you who prefer your horror stories understated and inconclusive.
caldwba0's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
halibut's review against another edition
5.0
In my favourite of these stories, mundane situations constantly feel in the edge of turning, like some awful thing will soon become apparent, but that feeling is stretched out, and what the threat was left vague. An unsettling feeling. He has a way of putting sentences together that fits with this, very often the key bits to make sense of the sent nice appear quite late on.
The Swords, The Hostel and Niemandwasser were particular favourites for me.
The Swords, The Hostel and Niemandwasser were particular favourites for me.
escragg92's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
pamwinkler's review against another edition
3.0
Overall, I don't think I like Robert Aickman's stuff very much. He's strange indeed, but everything seems very impersonal. Ligotti was very poetic and beautiful. Aickman is sparse, definitely strange, but lonely. Maybe I just hated most of the characters? In most horror stories, there's two ways to do it. Either you like the main characters and want to see them do well, or you hate them and want them to die. The sort of hate of these was a lot closer to annoyance and dislike, and no one seemed to quite suffer.
The Swords was interesting. Lonely and impersonal, like I said. Also, I felt like the narrator was lying, trying to make themselves look better and doing a poor job of it.
The Real Road to the Church was interesting, and I don't think I got it.
Niemandswasser was interesting, and very, very weird.
Pages from a Young Girl's Journal was not done in the way I expected, and pretty gothic in a way I didn't expect.
The Hospice - I've read this before. It made me faintly uncomfortable.
The Same Dog was odd.
Meeting Mr Millar was weird. I couldn't stand the main character.
The Clock Watcher was interesting.
The Swords was interesting. Lonely and impersonal, like I said. Also, I felt like the narrator was lying, trying to make themselves look better and doing a poor job of it.
The Real Road to the Church was interesting, and I don't think I got it.
Niemandswasser was interesting, and very, very weird.
Pages from a Young Girl's Journal was not done in the way I expected, and pretty gothic in a way I didn't expect.
The Hospice - I've read this before. It made me faintly uncomfortable.
The Same Dog was odd.
Meeting Mr Millar was weird. I couldn't stand the main character.
The Clock Watcher was interesting.
hucklebuck411's review against another edition
3.0
These are truly strange stories but I can't really say I enjoyed reading this anthology of Robert Aickman's works. As was mentioned in the Afterword by Jean Richardson, Aikman's style of writing has the feel of having been written by someone from the late 19th or early 20th century, even though it is made clear that one of the stories is set after WWII, "The Clock Watcher." This is not always bad, and very Lovecraftian, except when the writer, through the story's characters, embellishes or drones on upon minor occurrences or details that don't appear to add any substance to the meat of the story (perhaps I'm just missing some symbolic significance). The thing I'm finding reading much of strange fiction is that though the stories are somewhat unsettling, they never seem to go anywhere. It's often frustrating. The one exception in this anthology would be "Pages From a Young Girl's Journal"; a vampire story told from the naïve written perspective of the vampire's young, and I might say parentally neglected, victim. Its significance is that, with tweaking, the story could be written as an account from the diary of a pedophile victim from today. However, in the majority of cases the protagonists seem to be overly self absorbed and strange in their own right. One wonders if they are in need of psychiatric help and if what befalls them or what they experience is just a manifestation of their own psychosis. Okay, that's strange, but strange and weird happenings can really grip a reader when the main protagonist is relatable to the reader. I just didn't find that here and so the weirdness in a way felt false.
kaileycool's review against another edition
3.0
A fine seasonal read. Very Freudian stories that I would probably appreciate much more if I discussed them with someone.
circularcubes's review against another edition
5.0
According to Goodreads, February 20, 2020 was the date I first listed a collection of Aickman's stories to my to-read list. Alas, I can't for the life of me remember from what corner of the internet I unearthed this recommendation, but I sure am glad I did.
To start off, the title of this collection is deliciously disquieting - and that gorgeous illustration! By Edward Gorey, no less (but of course). I was sad to drop off my copy at the library when it was all said and done - what a lovely edition to have read this book in.
But the stories themselves! I wasn't sure what to expect, other than something horror-esque. I don't think I was quite expecting anything as unsettling as these stories turned out to be (which, of course, made them all the more enjoyably off). That first story, The Swords, in particular was a doozy, grim and eerie and unexpectedly sleazy. I also appreciated that each narrator in the stories felt distinct from the last. I can certainly see how the stories and their often ambiguous endings could be dissatisfying for many readers, but that might be what I enjoyed the most about them.
All in all, I'm really glad I got a chance to read some of Aickman's stories, and I'm going to make an attempt to read more, if not all, of his published works. I'll also keep an eye out for his name at used bookstores (which is perhaps the highest praise I could give an author).
To start off, the title of this collection is deliciously disquieting - and that gorgeous illustration! By Edward Gorey, no less (but of course). I was sad to drop off my copy at the library when it was all said and done - what a lovely edition to have read this book in.
But the stories themselves! I wasn't sure what to expect, other than something horror-esque. I don't think I was quite expecting anything as unsettling as these stories turned out to be (which, of course, made them all the more enjoyably off). That first story, The Swords, in particular was a doozy, grim and eerie and unexpectedly sleazy. I also appreciated that each narrator in the stories felt distinct from the last. I can certainly see how the stories and their often ambiguous endings could be dissatisfying for many readers, but that might be what I enjoyed the most about them.
All in all, I'm really glad I got a chance to read some of Aickman's stories, and I'm going to make an attempt to read more, if not all, of his published works. I'll also keep an eye out for his name at used bookstores (which is perhaps the highest praise I could give an author).
jemmak's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75